Solar panel arrays for spacecraft are deployed by lightweight spring-driven viscous-damped actuators. Latches are necessary to maintain the panels in position because the large deployed mass of the array induces loads which could overcome the deployment springs during certain spacecraft maneuvers. Prior art low-backlash latches add significant complexity and cost to the mechanism assembly process. With such latch designs, low backlash and required deployment angle are difficult to achieve simultaneously, requiring an iterative process of shim machining in multiple locations, installation, then backlash and angle measurement. Furthermore, these latches can be set to only one predetermined angle. Other deployment mechanisms have used spring loaded latch pins which slide along a plate and engage by dropping into a hole in a stationary part. Both types of previously used latches introduce backlash and offer no means of varying the deployment angle.